Employee Resources

Carl Christensen

The Site Visit: My Preferred Approach to Learning

My favorite learning approach is the “site visit.” I relish the opportunity to interview people where they live and work. I remember nursing concepts best when I can watch experts provide specialized health care, adapt health care practices to a local culture, debate health care policy, or implement an innovative health care delivery system. When I see firsthand the obstacles and opportunities for promoting health or treating illness in other settings, I come away with vivid images of varied means of improving health for people in need. Memories of site visit conversations and observations give me food for thought as to improvements that might be made to health care and nursing education in my home territory.

Because conducting site visits is my preferred method of learning, I have a passion for offering educational travel experiences to students of the Buntain School of Nursing. Feedback from nursing students confirms that they too find it enjoyable and fascinating to travel as a part of the learning process. They attest to learning invaluable lessons and gaining new insights when they extend the boundaries of their educational environment beyond the classroom walls.

Below is a galery of photos from trips designed to engage nursing students in off-campus active learning settings.

Alaska

India

Taiwan

Kazakhstan

Nursing Students in Olympia

Every year I arrange a day in our State’s Capitol for senior year nursing students. We learn how nurses can influence health care public policy.